.
Third peculiarity (the most important!)
imho this peculiarity would not, if at all, be an argument that the parable and its explanation have a different author, but merely that the explanation contains interpolations or went through stages of revision. It is a problem within the explanation (Mark 4:14-20) of the parable (Mark 4:3-8) and not between the parable and its explanation.
Modern Markan scholars, on the other hand, only take the path of interpretation and interpret the peculiarity to mean that a union of word and man occurs in the hearers who become initially believers (Mark 4:16-20), so that the hearers themselves then become the seed. This type of interpretation continues regarding the bearing of fruit.
Third peculiarity (the most important!)
In the explanation of the parable (Mark 4:14-20) there is a change in interpreting the seed and the soil. At first the word is the seed and the hearers are the soil, but then the hearers themselves become the seed. Likewise, at first it is the word that is unfruitful, but then the hearers bear fruit.
| Verses | The word is the seed & the hearers are the soil | The hearers are the seed |
| 4:14 | The one sowing sows the word | x |
| 4:15 | And these are those along the road, where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word having been sown in them | x |
| 4:16 | x | And these are likewise those sown upon the rocky places |
| 4:18 | x | And others are those sown among the thorns |
| 4:20 | x | And those are the ones who have been sown upon the good soil |
| Verses | The word is unfruitful | The hearers bring forth fruit |
| 4:19 | and the cares of this age and the deceit of riches, and the desires of the other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful | x |
| 4:20 | x | And those are the ones who have been sown upon the good soil, such as hear the word and receive it, and bring forth fruit: |
imho this peculiarity would not, if at all, be an argument that the parable and its explanation have a different author, but merely that the explanation contains interpolations or went through stages of revision. It is a problem within the explanation (Mark 4:14-20) of the parable (Mark 4:3-8) and not between the parable and its explanation.
Modern Markan scholars, on the other hand, only take the path of interpretation and interpret the peculiarity to mean that a union of word and man occurs in the hearers who become initially believers (Mark 4:16-20), so that the hearers themselves then become the seed. This type of interpretation continues regarding the bearing of fruit.
Statistics: Posted by Kunigunde Kreuzerin — Sat Jan 11, 2025 1:01 pm